Italian Wedding

It took a taxi, one plane and three train changes to get to my friend’s wedding in Matelica in the beautiful Marche region in Italy, and that is not counting additional transportation from the city where we were staying, in Porto Recanati. May I say, it was all more than worth it.

We arrived at Villa Collepere, a stunning 16th century country house, that used to belong to the Pierleoni family and later transformed into a summer-house (official website). The Pierleoni (meaning sons of Peter Leo) was a great Roman patrician family, headquartered in Trastevere. Two branches of the family are still in existence, one here, in Matelica, Marche, and the other in Citta di Castello in Umbria, and both are the members of the Italian nobility.

It was a wonderful Italian afternoon, and we were kindly explained what was going to happen, step by step, first, there were the drinks planned, then the wedding ceremony, after a little fancy snack time, which actually felt like a main meal to me – Italians love their food, bless them, and that’s why I love them, and then the dinner party.

The bride and the groom, Russian girl and an Italian ragazzo, were nowhere to be seen, and it added to the mystery of the wedding ceremony. I felt excited already, the whole excitement started not even a few days ago, it started more than six months ago, when Anastasia told me about the amazing news. It seemed quite unreal though that I was finally here (I never went to a destination wedding), in the middle of an Italian countryside, among the vineyards and gorgeous Italians and Russians, about to witness my friend’s happiness.

When we arrived, we were absolutely stunned by the beauty of the nature of Marche. I have seen beautiful places before, of course, but this was something out of a fairytale. Everything seemed to work together stunningly. Everything just clicked. The decor and the location, the timing of the sunset, the trees and the grapes, it was all perfect.

After the drinks part (and with our drinks) we went discovering something that was supposed to become our drink! A few years later anyway. And I mean wine of course. After a little photo shoot here and there, we went back to socialize with the groom who appeared to everyone’s joy.

I was the only guest who was allergic to wines, so I was shyly walking around with my G&T, snapping away with my old Nikon camera. That’s me there with a glass.

Then it was finally the time for the main event. Everyone gathered in the area for the guests, a little book of translations for Russians and Italians included, and the ceremony started.

It was a beautiful wedding, full with tears of laughter and joy, there were stories about how they couple met, how they dated, and all the Italian-Russian relations. I was crying by the end of it, and hoping that one day I will celebrate my wedding too, I was ready to catch that wedding bouquet, believe me.

Flower girl and her mother caught my attention long before the ceremony, because both were adorable princesses.

Then we were socializing once again, whilst the bride and the groom, now husband and wife, went for a photo shoot in the rays of the Italian sun.

Later we all got cute little Polaroids with our names on them, which had micro photos, and we needed to match the photo on the Polaroid with a framed camera on the dinner tables in order to locate our seats!

This Italian gentleman was the most Italian gentleman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I later came up to him and actually said that I admired his style, he blushed and said something along the lines of “That is what real men are supposed to look like everyday”. I just opened my mouth in awe, the way I usually do, and sighed, nodding in agreement.

Some of us just chilled by the pool area with their Aperol Spritz in hand, some, when the darkness touched the ground, decided to go for a dip in the pool waters. Some posed with other people’s babies.

The sun was setting, the newlyweds were coming back from the shoot, to have a photo taken with the guests.

This is probably my most favourite set of photos from that day. And then, of course, even though the guests weren’t angry from hunger, as it sometimes happens at weddings, here everyone was happy with the plenty of hors d’oeuvres we were served constantly and ready to go to the beautifully set tables organised for dinner.

It was a luscious dinner, it seemed like delicious food never ended. There were games and fun, music and laughter, and more photos. Anastasia had to make pasta in front of everyone, as it is an Italian tradition to make the new wife work with the dough. There were gifts and more food.

It was a charmer of a wedding. I have experienced the whole range of emotions, something that everyone must experience at a wedding. ♡♡♡

I wish the newlyweds all the happiness in the world! ♡ And I was already invited to their new home in Milan. I am thinking of paying them a visit soon 🙂